Sliding door equipment



Aug. 1, 1939. E. G. BUssE SLIDING DOOR EQUIPMENT Filed Dec. 23, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 1, 1939. E. G. BussE SLIDING DOOR EQUIPMENT FiledDeo. 2.3, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 r|||||l||ll li Il Illlll ||||||Il| IUI' Z'n Ven for d0/m); 5055 Patented Aug. 1, 1939 UNITED STATES Frii'if'EN'i' OFFICE SLEDING DOOR EQUIPMENT Application December 23, 1936, Serial No. 117,329

13 Claims.

This invention relates to sliding door construction particularly adapted for railway rolling stock house cars and the invention'consists in the side door holding mechanism and the combination therewith of door and associated structure.

One of the objects of the invention is to take up slack in door holding mechanism whereby undesirable play between the door and a stop therefor on the car body may be eliminated.

Another object of the invention is to simplify door holding and takeup mechanism and at the same time provide a stop arrangement which will not be rendered ineffective by passage of the car over rough tracks or by heavy draft and buing shocks, or by the combination of such shocks with rough tracks.

Another object of the invention is to simplify the structure of main door and auxiliary door combinations by means automatically thrusting the doors towards each other.

Anoth'erobject of the invention is to eliminate the latching mechanism usually provided on the inside of thedoor and constituting additional expense and being subject to injury from the ladlng.

These and other detailed objects of the invention are attained by the structure illustrated in the "accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side view of a railway car main door and auxiliary door with associated' track and retainer construction.

Figure la is a detail section taken on the line Ia-Ia of Figure 3.

Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2--2 of Figure l and drawn to an enlarged scale.

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on the line 3--3 of Figure 1 and drawn to an enlarged scale.

Figure 4 is a horizontal detail section taken on the line 4--4 of Figure 5.

Figure 5 is a Vfront elevation of a detail of the structure also shown in elevation in Figure 1.

Figure 6 is an elevation of a modified latch member.

In Figure 3, the car side sill is indicated at I,

the oor at 2, and the side plate at 3. A door supporting track 4 is carried'by a series of brackets 5 secured to the side sill and a door retainer is formed by Z bars and 'I carried by side platel and transverse stiifeners I'I. Z-bar body posts I8 and I9 are at the rear edges of the main and auxiliary doors, respectively, and are fitted with the usual fillers 2U to which the inner sheathing 2i of the car is attached. The outer sheathing of f metal plates is indicated at 22. The auxiliary door carries an auxiliary post 23 of U-shaped cross section having a wooden ller 24. On body post i3 and rear edge of the main door are weatherstripping elements 25 and 2li, respectively, and on body post I3 and the rear edge of the auX- iliary door are similar weatherstripping elements El and 23, respectively. Auxiliary post 24 carries weatherstripping element 29 which cooperates with the forwardly directed flange of Z-bar I2, forming a front edging of the main door. Stops 30 and 3i on side plates 6 (Fig. 3) and the upper portion of the auxiliary door, respectively, and a stop 32 (Fig. 1) on door track 4 prevent the door from being pushed outwardly by the carY load, in case of shifting of this load, or if the load is loose material such as grain, etc.

All of the above parts are of well known construction and in themselves do not constitute the present invention.

Main door 8 carries a pair of brackets 33 and 34 arranged one above the other and having down- Wardly and rearwardly inclined pockets 35 and 36, respectively. A lift handle 31 has terminals 38 and 39 at its upper and lower ends, respectively, arranged to slidably fit the pockets 35 and 36 so as to slide by gravity downwardly and rearwardly of the door. A stop 40 is Secured to door track 4 and has a rib 4l projecting outwardly beneath the general plane occupied by handle 31. Rib 4I is inclined upwardly away from the rear door post i8 and terminates at its left hand end in the top edge of a vertical rib 42 arranged to cooperate with an opposing vertical surface 43 on the latch end 39 of the handle to hold the door against rearward movement. Surfaces 42 and 43 lie in a vertical plane which is inclined to the general plane of the door (Figure 4) whereby any thrust between these parts tends to force the door inwardly towards the car side wall, thereby closing the gap between the door and the outer edge of the floor. The beveled edge 30a on stop 3i) (Figure la) engages door member SI to thrust the upper portion oi the door inwardly.

As elements 38 and 3S and the corresponding pockets of the brackets 33 and 34 are inclined to the vertical, upward and downward movement of the handle results also in its movement bodily forwardly and rearwardly of the door, respectively. Upward movement of the handle will readily free latch 3S from engagement with stop 4U, and downward movement of the handle will thrust the door forwardly and inwardly. Each jolting or longitudinal jerking of the car tending to move the door towards the closed position will automatically result in a tighter wedging of the holding device but the contact surfaces of the stop and latch are always in vertical abutting relation and there is no tendency for the latch and stop to become disengaged or to* increase the play between them as would be likely to result if the engaging surfaces of the latch and stop were inclined to the vertical.

The takeup arrangement affordedby the diagonal parts of the handle and the brackets includes relatively closely tting parts although slidable upon each other. As indicated, this arrangement is much more efficient for the desired purpose as it keeps the handles from jumping out of locking engagement with the abutting stops.

Auxiliary door 9 is equipped with corresponding brackets 44 and a handle 45. A corresponding stop 46 is provided on door track 4. The inclined portions of members 44, 45 and 46 are disposed oppositely to the corresponding portions of members 33, 34, 3'1' and 4U so that they function to thrust the auxiliary door to the right, which is its direction for closing.

Obviously the two handle and stop assemblies function to thrust the auxiliary door and the main door towards each other, thereby tending to take up and avoid any play between their abutting elements indicated at l2 and 29.

Figure S illustrates a modified handle latch and bracket arrangement in which the lift handle 45 and the bracket and stop engaging ends 46 and 4l are disposed in a substantially straight line from end to end and the guiding brackets 48 and 49, although substantially the same as brackets 33 and 34, are offset vertically to accommodate the straight lift-latch structure. The structure retains the vertical engagement of the latch and stop faces, the outwardly beveled arrangement of the same, and the movement of the latch longitudinally of the car, when lifted.

Although the latch and stop arrangement is shown as applied to the combination of a main door and an auxiliary door and includes the beveled faces 42 and 43 and has additional advantages when so used, it will be understood that the device can be used on either a main door or an auxiliary door, whether or not the other door is so equipped or the device can be used on a single side door irrespective of the presence of an auxiliary door, and as to such use, reference is made herein to my earlier application Serial No. 723,438, led May 2, 1934 now Patent 2,106,166, issued January 25, 1938, (of which this application is a continuation-in-part). Also the inwardly thrusting feature may be omitted if not required.

These and other details of the door and associated structure may be varied substantially without departing from the spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of such modifications as come within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. In a holding device for a horizontally sliding door or the like, the latch member having a stop engaging portion disposed vertically and having a bearing portion inclined to the vertical and in the plane of the door movement, and a bracket structure for mounting said latch member and providing a guide inclined to the vertical and in said plane for engagement with said bearing portion of said latch member.

2. In a holding device for a horizontally sliding door or the like, a latch member having a stop engaging portion disposed vertically and having vertically spaced bearing portions inclined to the vertical and in the plane of the door movement, and a bracket structure for mounting said latch member and including vertically spaced guides for engaging said bearing portions of said latch member.

3. In a holding device for a horizontally sliding door or the like, a latch member having terminal portions inclined to the vertical and in the plane of the door movement, bracket structure for application to a door and arranged to slidably mount said terminal portions to guide said handle in an up and down movement inclined from the vertical and in said plane, said latch member including a stop engaging element disposed substantially vertically.

4. In a holding device for a horizontally sliding door or the like, a latch member including a handle having a substantially vertically disposed intermediate gripping portion, terminal portions at the ends of said intermediate portion, said terminal portions being inclined to the Vertical in opposite directions from said intermediate portion and in the plane of the door movement, and bracket structure including pockets for receiving said handle terminal portions and guiding the same along the line of their inclination as said handle is raised and lowered, said member including a stop engaging portiondisposed substantially vertically.

5. A device as described in claim 1 in which the stop engaging face of said handle bearing portion is inclined transversely to the plane of the handle movement so that a corresponding stop engaged thereby thrusts the handle towards the door upon which the device is mounted.

6. In a door holding mechanism, a stop for application to a stationary support, guide brackets for application to a door, and a latch slidable in said brackets into and out of stop engaging position, said stop and latch having opposable vertical faces and said stop and latch having interengaging elements inclined transversely of the plane of said faces.

7. In combination with a pair of sliding doors movable into edge abutting relation with each other, individual latch members on said doors arranged to cooperate with corresponding fixed stops and actuated by gravity to thrust said doors towards each other to maintain said relation.

8. In combination, a main sliding door, an auxiliary sliding door including a post movable therewith and disposed adjacent to its forward edge, said auxiliary door post and the forward edge of said main door having elements arranged when interengaged to effect a weather excluding seal, individual brackets on said doors and latch members slidable therein and arranged to cooperate with corresponding iixed stops and actuated by gravity to exert a thrust on said doors to maintain said elements interengaged.

9. In combination a railway car, body framing, a main sliding door, an auxiliary side door including a post movable therewith and disposed adjacent to its forward edge, said auxiliary door post and the forward edge of said main door having elements arranged when interengaged to eiect a weather excluding seal, and gravity actuated means on said framing and both of said doors cooperating to automatically thrust said elements together when said doors are in closed position.

10. In combination, a pair of Xed stops, doors slidable towards each other to edge abutting relation, door holding devices comprising brackets on adjacent doors having pocket faces inclined from the vertical and in the general plane of the door, the inclination of the pocket face in one bracket being opposite to that in the other bracket, and latch members having correspondingly inclined bearing elements and each having a stop engaging element with a vertically disposed face.

11. In a holdng and tightening device for a sliding door or the like, a stop element for application to a stationary support and provided with a vertically disposed face, brackets for application to a door, a latch member movable in said brackets and guided thereby in a path of movement inclined from the vertical and in the general plane of the door to and from the plane of said stop face, said member having a vertically disposed face arranged to abut said stop face.

12. In combination with a railway car oor having an outwardly facing element at its edge, a pair of sliding doors movable into front edge abutting relation with each other, individual brackets on said doors, and individual latches slidable in said brackets to automatically take up play between said doors and to take up play between said floor element and said doors.

13. In a holding and tightening device for a sliding door or the like, a stop element for application to a stationary support, brackets for application to a door, a latch member slidable upwardly and downwardly in said brackets and guided thereby in the plane of the door into and out of engagement with said stop element, the interengaging faces of said element and member being inclined transversely of the plane of the door to which the device is to be applied so that their interengagement thrusts the latch member, and the door upon which it is mounted, transversely of the plane of the latter.

EDWIN G. BUSSE. 

